1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed toward an elongated meat processing system that includes an improved lifting mechanism for lifting products being processed from one or more conveyors during movement through a treatment zone defined by a housing of the system so as to thereby control the rate of advancement of the products and the time the products are present in the treatment zone.
2. Description of the Prior Art
U.S. Pat. No. 3,747,510, which is assigned to the assignee of the present invention, discloses an elongated meat processing system for processing meat or the like. This type of processing requires the meat products, such as poultry, bacon, ham, weiners, sausage, frankfurters, etc., to be processed at various temperatures for varying periods of time depending on the particular product. The meat processing system of this patent conveys the products through different treatment zones and includes lifting means for lifting the products within the treatment zones for the required periods of time to provide proper processing. Adjacent treatment zones are separated from each other by movable doors in this system so as to maintain the proper temperatures, humidities and other conditions for curing, cooking, showering to cleanse the products, and chilling, as well as other types of processing.
The preferred embodiment of the meat processing system disclosed by the patent mentioned in the preceding paragraph includes a plurality of vertically spaced conveyors. Each of these conveyors includes a pair of laterally spaced, reciprocating beams extending the length of the system. Hydraulic actuators respectively associated with the reciprocating beams provide the impetus for beam reciprocation in forward and rearward directions. After forward beam reciprocation, a lifting mechanism of the system lifts product sticks from the beams so that products carried by these sticks remain suspended within the treatment zone during subsequent rearward reciprocation of the beams. Prior to the next forward beam reciprocation, the lifting mechanism returns the product sticks to the beams for subsequent advancement. This type of conveyance allows slower cooking products such as hams to immediately follow faster cooking products such as weiners. The slower moving hams are maintained suspended within the treatment zones by the lifting mechanism during one or more forward and rearward reciprocations of the beams while the weiners are advanced by each forward stroke so as to move at the required speed through the system. Thus, there is an efficient utilization of the system to provide a high output of processed products.
The lifting mechanism which lifts the product sticks from the conveyors in the aforementioned patent includes hydraulic actuators located at the upper side of the treatment zones along the length of the system. These actuators are connected to yokes that carry lifting arms. The actuators move the yokes upwardly to raise the lifting arms and to thereby lift the product sticks from the reciprocating beams of the conveyors.